USIL to double its student capacity and increase access to affordable programs

The Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola (USIL), a leading private university in Peru, will receive a $23.5 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to double its capacity and expand access to affordable education programs for low-income students.

IDB financing will allow USIL to double its capacity from approximately 12,000 to 25,000 students over the next ten years. Moreover, the loan will help USIL establish a new student guarantee fund, support a new technical training institute, and increase its participation in Beca 18, a Peruvian government flagship scholarship program targeting economically disadvantaged youth. It will also help expand and upgrade USIL’s infrastructure using green technology that permits the reduction of water and energy consumption.

The project, which is also being financed by Banco de Crédito del Peru and the Canadian Climate Change Fund, comes as years of sustained economic growth in Peru has fueled growth of an emerging middle class eager to improve its living standards through high-quality college education. Currently only three out of ten Peruvian high school students have access to higher education.

USIL has been among the first private universities in the country to tap into this market by forming a partnership with Beca 18, which has enabled the university to increase the number of low-income students in its campus. As much as 27 percent of USIL’s incoming students came from lower-middle socioeconomic groups in 2010, up from 17 percent in 2006.

About the IDB’s Structured and Corporate Finance Department

The Structured and Corporate Finance Department (SCF) leads all IDB’s non-sovereign guaranteed operations for large-scale projects, as well as those linked to companies and financial institutions. Through its Loan Syndication Program, SCF acts as a catalyst, helping to engage third-party resources by partnering with commercial banks, institutional investors, co-guarantors and other co-lenders for projects with high development impact.